JP2014007309A - Deposition apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a deposition apparatus for manufacturing an organic device which enables substrate transfer at high efficiency by linking deposition devices having different process gas pressure from each other without being open to the atmosphere.SOLUTION: A deposition apparatus provided with three or more types of deposition chambers having atmospheric conditions different from each other, comprises relay chambers each of which connects the deposition chamber of an upstream process with the deposition chamber of a downstream process, for adjusting an indoor atmospheric condition depending on an atmospheric condition of the deposition chamber of the downstream process. In the relay chamber adjacent to the deposition chambers having a larger difference in atmospheric conditions, atmospheric conditions of substrates are concurrently adjusted in a larger number than that in the relay chamber adjacent to the deposition chambers having a smaller difference in atmospheric conditions.

Description

  The present invention relates to a film forming apparatus, and more particularly to a film forming apparatus for manufacturing an organic device.

  In recent years, organic devices have attracted attention as a new industrial field. For example, organic EL has been developed as a display device or lighting device, an organic transistor as a driving element such as organic EL, electronic paper, or RFID, and an organic thin film solar cell as a solar cell. In particular, organic EL is required to increase the size of the production substrate along with the increase in the size of display devices and lighting devices. The substrate size is the substrate size from the current 4.5th generation production line (glass substrate dimensions: 730 mm x 920 mm). Will be expanded to 5.5th to 6th generation production lines (glass substrate dimensions are 1300 mm x 1500 mm to 1500 mm x 1800 mm), which will be 2.9 times or more, and 8th generation production line (glass substrate dimensions: 2200 mm x 2500 mm). ).

  At the same time, the above-mentioned increase in the size of production facilities has created new demands for improving the efficiency of production facilities, such as speeding up transport and introducing new film formation processes other than conventional vapor deposition methods, in order to reduce the cost of organic EL. It is. For example, a coating process has been partially adopted to form an organic layer. Specifically, part or all of the organic layer on the side close to the substrate such as the hole injection layer, hole transport layer, and light emitting layer of the organic EL device is prepared by a coating process, and the light emitting layer and electron transport layer near the upper electrode side are formed. A hybrid element that forms a part or all of the film by vapor deposition has been studied.

Further, when the display device or the lighting device is enlarged, it is important to reduce the cost of the upper electrode. In a large panel, it is necessary to reduce the resistance of the upper electrode in order to maintain the uniformity of luminance. In the conventional semi-transmission film of Mg—Ag alloy used in the top emission type organic EL, the resistance is too high, and it is difficult to ensure the uniformity of screen luminance and illumination luminance. An Mg-Ag electrode having a thick Ag film is expensive because a large amount of expensive Ag is used. Therefore, it is required to use a bottom emission type organic EL using an inexpensive Al reflective electrode for the upper electrode, or to form a transparent electrode such as ITO or IZO to a thickness of about several hundreds of nanometers in the top emission type organic EL. . Conventionally, Al electrodes have been formed by resistance heating vapor deposition, induction heating vapor deposition, and EB vapor deposition. However, since the substrate size is small, the distance between the evaporation source and the substrate has been sufficiently increased to ensure film thickness uniformity. However, when the substrate becomes large, it becomes difficult to increase the distance between the evaporation source and the substrate. In addition, since Al has a lower vapor pressure than Mg and Ag, a high deposition temperature is required, and there is a problem that it is more difficult to increase the film formation rate to increase the film thickness. Therefore, sputtering film formation has been studied. On the other hand, transparent oxides such as ITO and IZO are difficult to stably obtain a low-resistance film by vapor deposition, and a sputtering method is usually used.
Therefore, it is desirable to introduce a sputtering method for forming the organic EL upper electrode.

Further, from the viewpoint of reduction in thickness and weight, thin film sealing using a CVD film has been studied in place of the conventional sealing can and sealing using a desiccant. In the CVD film, an organic-inorganic laminated barrier film is usually formed, and the moisture permeability can be reduced to a level (-10 ⁻⁶ g / m ² / day) at which the organic EL device does not deteriorate. By using thin film sealing, it is possible to use a light glass or a barrier film substrate without using a sealing can.

As described above, organic EL devices have been conventionally produced using almost only the vapor deposition method. However, in addition to vapor deposition, it is expected that a manufacturing method combining a plurality of different film formation processes such as coating, sputtering, and CVD will become mainstream. The In that case, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that the film forming atmosphere gas pressure, gas type, and film forming temperature of each process are different. That is, vapor deposition is usually performed in a high vacuum (about 10 ⁻⁴ Pa) at room temperature, and coating is usually performed at atmospheric pressure, and a heating stage for drying is required. Sputtering (about 0.1 Pa to 1 Pa) and CVD (About 1 to 10 Pa) is usually formed in a low-vacuum sputtering gas (argon) or source gas (monosilane or the like) atmosphere at room temperature to a heating environment. Since organic devices such as organic EL are extremely reluctant to moisture and oxygen, it is necessary to store them in a glow box filled with dry nitrogen or the like between these processes or to directly connect a film forming apparatus. In consideration of future productivity improvement, it is preferable to directly connect the film forming apparatuses. In that case, a mechanism for maintaining different film pressures and temperatures in the respective film forming chambers is necessary. For example, in the case of sputtering, the sputter deposition chamber is isolated from the robot transfer chamber by a gate valve, and pressure regulation (discharge gas introduction, gas pressure stabilization), substrate temperature control, film deposition (discharge ramp-up, formation) Membrane, ramp down), exhaust. However, this method has a difficulty in improving productivity because processes other than film formation (gas introduction, gas pressure stabilization, substrate temperature control, ramp-up, ramp-down, exhaust) are required in the film-forming chamber. Also, since the film formation atmosphere gas pressure, gas type, and film formation temperature are different for coating, sputtering, and CVD, the time required for gas introduction, stabilization, and evacuation is different, which is the slowest when the film forming apparatus is connected. Since the process becomes a bottleneck, it is difficult to increase the overall productivity. In particular, when three or more kinds of film forming apparatuses are connected, if the substrate transport time is not matched, the substrate stays and stable production becomes difficult.

  The following Patent Documents 1 to 3 disclose an example in which a plurality of relay chambers (load lock chambers) are provided between two film forming chambers or process chambers, but three or more types of film forming chambers are provided. The case structure is not considered.

JP 2003-023059 A JP 2004-343068 A JP 2010-147250 A

  The present invention particularly connects the film forming process chambers in which film formation is performed by combining three or more different film forming atmosphere gas pressures or gas types without opening to the atmosphere, and the film forming atmosphere gas in each film forming process chamber An object of the present invention is to provide a film forming apparatus for manufacturing an organic device that enables high-speed control of pressure and gas species and high-speed control of temperature.

  In a film forming apparatus having three or more types of film forming chambers having different atmospheric conditions, an upstream film forming chamber and a downstream film forming chamber are connected to each other according to the atmospheric conditions of the downstream film forming chamber. There is a relay chamber for adjusting the atmospheric conditions in the room, and the time for adjusting the atmospheric condition of one substrate in the relay chamber is such that the relay chamber having a large difference in atmospheric conditions between adjacent film forming chambers The atmosphere conditions of a larger number of substrates are adjusted sequentially and in parallel than the relay chamber having a small atmosphere condition difference.

  According to the film forming apparatus of the present invention, organic devices manufactured at different atmospheric pressures can be produced with high efficiency and integrated. In addition, an organic device can be provided at low cost. Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will be clarified by the following description of embodiments.

It is the schematic which shows typically the connection structure of the film-forming apparatus of an Example. It is an example (1) which made the relay room the upper and lower multistage structure. It is an example (2) which made the relay room the upper and lower multistage structure. In this example, a plurality of relay chambers can be switched and exhausted by a single gas exhaust unit. This is an example in which the relay room has a two-dimensional arrangement structure. This is an example in which the relay chamber has a juxtaposed structure. It is the schematic (1) which shows typically the connection structure of the film-forming apparatus of another Example. It is the schematic (2) which shows typically the connection structure of the film-forming apparatus of another Example.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The following description shows specific examples of the contents of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to these descriptions. Various modifications by those skilled in the art are within the scope of the technical idea disclosed in this specification. Changes and modifications are possible. In all the drawings for explaining the present invention, components having the same function are denoted by the same reference numerals, and repeated description thereof may be omitted.

<Embodiment 1 of Film Forming Apparatus>
FIG. 1 is a schematic view schematically showing a connection configuration of a film forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, an example of an apparatus for organic EL is shown. A film forming apparatus (for example, an organic EL device manufacturing apparatus) includes a load chamber 20-1 for loading a substrate from the substrate cassette 10 into the apparatus, an unload chamber 20-2 for unloading, a load chamber 20-1 and an unload chamber 20-. 2, a plurality of robot chambers 40 (40-1 to 40-5) that transfer substrates, and a plurality of relay chambers 30 (30-1 to 30-30) that connect between them to adjust gas pressure and the like. -6), and a plurality of film forming chambers 50 (50-1 to 50-10) arranged on both sides of each robot chamber 40. Each chamber can be opened and closed by a gate valve 60.

  In this embodiment, the deposition chambers 50-1 and 50-2 are coating chambers, the deposition chambers 50-3 to 50-6 are vapor deposition chambers, the deposition chambers 50-7 and 50-8 are sputtering chambers, and the deposition chambers. 50-9 and 50-10 were CVD chambers. A substrate in which a lower electrode made of a transparent electrode such as ITO or IZO has already been formed is used. In the case of the active matrix type, a thin film transistor circuit is further connected through a through hole under the lower electrode. In the film formation chambers (coating chambers) 50-1 and 50-2, the hole injection layer and the hole transport layer of the organic EL are used. In the film formation chambers (vapor deposition chambers) 50-3 to 50-6, the light emitting layer is used. The electron transport layer and the electron injection layer were formed in the deposition chambers (sputtering chambers) 50-7 and 50-8, and the barrier layers were formed in the deposition chambers (CVD chambers) 50-9 and 50-10.

  Each film forming chamber 50 has two substrate transfer portions 55, and the substrate is transferred into the substrate transfer portion 55 by the upper surface transfer by the robot. The transport robot has two comb-shaped hands in two upper and lower stages. For example, the upper part is used for carrying in and the lower part is used for carrying out, and the carrying-in / out process can be simultaneously performed by one operation. In this method, it is possible to form another film while aligning one substrate, and productivity is improved. That is, productivity can be improved by alternately performing alignment and film formation in one film formation chamber.

  In the film forming apparatus as described above, coating film formation performed under atmospheric pressure (nitrogen atmosphere), vapor deposition performed in a high vacuum, sputter film formation and CVD film formation performed in a low vacuum process gas are connected by an integrated line. Has been. Further, the load chamber 20-1 is connected with an atmospheric atmosphere, and the unload chamber 20-2 is connected with an atmospheric atmosphere or a nitrogen atmosphere at atmospheric pressure when glass or film sealing is performed in addition to thin film sealing. In this way, when three or more types of film formation or transfer facilities are connected and the atmospheric pressure and the process gas and process temperature at the time of film formation differ greatly, the atmospheric pressure via the relay chamber 30 In addition, the time required for changing the process gas and the process temperature differs for each relay chamber 30. For example, it takes time to exhaust and introduce / stabilize a gas between a coating process and a vapor deposition process with a large pressure difference. On the other hand, since the pressure difference is small between vapor deposition and sputtering, the time required for exhaust and gas introduction / stabilization can be shortened. Therefore, when each apparatus is connected in one relay chamber 30, the substrate transport time between the coating process and the vapor deposition process becomes a bottleneck, and the productivity of the entire film forming apparatus does not increase. Therefore, in the present invention, the structure and transfer method of the relay chamber 30 are improved.

  That is, the film forming apparatus of the present invention connects the upstream process film forming chamber and the downstream process film forming chamber, and adjusts the indoor atmospheric conditions according to the atmospheric conditions of the downstream process film forming chamber. In the relay chamber, when there are a plurality of substrates, the adjustment of the atmospheric conditions can be sequentially performed in parallel. Here, since the present invention aims to eliminate the bottleneck, the time for adjusting the atmospheric condition of one substrate in the relay chamber is longer than the time required for film formation of one substrate in the film forming chamber in the upstream process. This is particularly effective when long.

  Furthermore, in the film forming apparatus of the present invention, a relay chamber having a large difference in atmospheric conditions between adjacent film forming chambers has a larger number of substrate atmospheric conditions than a relay chamber having a small difference in atmospheric conditions between adjacent film forming chambers. adjust. As a result, the bottleneck of the substrate transport speed reduction caused by the difference in the atmospheric conditions between the film forming chamber in the upstream process and the film forming chamber in the downstream process can be eliminated, and the productivity of the entire film forming apparatus can be improved.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the relay chamber 30 of the present invention. 2 of FIG. 1 for simplicity of explanation, was formed in a nitrogen atmosphere under atmospheric pressure, the deposition chamber to cure heating (coating chamber) 50-1 and 50-2, of the order of 10 ^-4 Pa Deposition chambers (evaporation chambers) 50-3 and 50-4 for film formation under high vacuum and room temperature, low vacuum argon atmosphere of about 0.1 Pa to 1 Pa, film formation chamber (sputter chamber) 50 for film formation at room temperature Only -7 and 50-8 are extracted and the plan view and AA 'cross section are shown. The low vacuum portion may be replaced with film formation chambers (CVD chambers) 50-9 and 50-10. The relay chamber 30 according to the present invention is characterized in that the number of relay chambers 30 increases between the film forming chambers having a larger atmospheric pressure difference or atmospheric temperature difference (process temperature difference), on both sides upstream and downstream of the process. It has a gate valve 60, and has a gas introduction part 70 that can introduce process gas used in the processing chambers connected thereto, and a gas exhaust part (exhaust pump) 80 that can exhaust process gas. The relay chamber 30 includes the gas introduction unit 70 and the gas exhaust unit 80, so that the atmospheric pressure in the relay chamber 30 can be adjusted.

  In addition, the relay chamber 30 may have a temperature adjustment function (not shown) for preheating or precooling the substrate to the process temperature between processes having a temperature difference in the film forming process.

  Further, it is possible to have a stocker function for temporarily storing the substrate in the relay chamber 30 when the substrate stays in the processing chamber in the downstream direction of the process due to trouble or maintenance.

  FIG. 2 shows an example (1) in which the relay chamber 30 has an upper and lower multistage structure. In FIG. 2, the relay chamber 30-2 and the relay chamber 30-4 have a multi-stage structure in which the upper and lower stages are stacked, and the film forming chambers (coating chambers) 50-1 and 50-2 having a large pressure difference and the film forming chambers. (Vapor deposition chamber) 50-3, 50-4, 4 steps, film formation chamber (vapor deposition chamber) 50-3, 50-4 with small pressure difference and film formation chamber (sputter chamber) 50-7, 50-8 Shows an example with two stages, and a gas introduction part 70 and a gas exhaust part 80 are connected to the relay chamber 30. The number of stages is determined according to the atmospheric pressure difference in the film forming process and the film forming temperature difference. Divide the time required for transporting the substrate from the upstream deposition chamber to the downstream deposition chamber, in other words, the time required for gas introduction and stabilization, exhaust, and temperature control in each relay chamber 30 by the number of stages in the relay chamber 30. The values can be appropriately changed so that the values are substantially constant in the coupling device as shown in FIG. The axis of the robot 90 in the robot chamber 40 can be moved up and down, and the height of the robot arm can be adjusted to each level.

For example, when there are two relay chambers 30 (the first relay chamber 30 and the second relay chamber 30), in the first relay chamber 30, the substrate is transferred from the upstream deposition chamber to the downstream deposition chamber. And the number X of the first relay chamber 30 divided by the number (N1) of the first relay chamber 30 and the transfer of the substrate from the upstream deposition chamber to the downstream deposition chamber in the second relay chamber 30. The number Y obtained by dividing the time required for (T2) by the number (N2) of the first relay chambers 30 is
| X-Y | <X, Y
Make a relationship. If | X−Y | is larger than X and Y, the number of relay rooms N1 or N2 is increased so that they are smaller, so that | X−Y | <X and | X−Y | <Y. Thus, the difference in substrate residence time can be kept within the transport tact time of each substrate. Of course, it is possible to increase the number of relay chambers further to satisfy | X−Y | << X and | X−Y | << Y.

  If the above relationship is established, when two relay units are compared, the substrate residence time in each relay chamber 30 can be minimized by the appropriate number of relay chambers, thereby improving the transfer efficiency of the entire film forming apparatus. can do. In other words, if | X−Y | <X, Y, the transport time difference | X−Y | can be within the time required for transporting one sheet, and then the transport speed is adjusted to make | X−Y | = It can be close to 0 and the minimum number of relay room stages can be achieved. When | X−Y | <2X, 2Y, or | X−Y | <3X, 3Y, the case where the transport time difference | X−Y | is the time required for transporting two or more sheets is also included. In order to satisfy Y | <X, Y, it is preferable to increase the number of relay chambers.

  FIG. 3 shows an example (2) in which the relay chamber 30 has an upper and lower multi-stage structure. 2 is different from FIG. 2 in that the structure is divided into upper and lower multi-staged partitions. Gate valves 60 are individually installed upstream and downstream of each stage, and a gas introduction unit 70 and a gas exhaust unit 80 are installed in each, and the basic functions are the same as those in FIG. The structure of the relay chamber 30 can be simplified and the space can be saved by dividing the partition wall.

  In FIG. 4, the gas exhaust unit 80 is branched by the valve 100 so that a plurality of relay chambers 30 can be switched and exhausted by one gas exhaust unit 80. In each relay chamber 30, gas introduction and stabilization, temperature control, and exhaust are repeated, and there is no need for exhaust during gas introduction, stabilization, and temperature control. Therefore, it is possible to exhaust a plurality of relay chambers 30 with one gas exhaust unit 80 using the time. With the configuration of this embodiment, the number of gas exhaust units 80 can be reduced, and the cost of the film forming apparatus can be reduced.

  FIG. 5 is an example having a two-dimensional arrangement structure in which the relay chambers 30 are stacked or divided in multiple upper and lower stages and are arranged or arranged at respective heights. When the number of stages is insufficient with a simple multistage structure, it is possible to increase the number of relay chambers 30 by arranging them horizontally at their respective heights as in this embodiment. In addition, with the two-dimensional arrangement structure, the stroke for changing the axial height of the robot 90 can be shortened compared to a simple multistage structure. Further, when the number of relay chambers 30 may be small, for example, in the case of a combination of two stages and one stage, only a juxtaposed structure that is arranged in parallel or divided at the same height as shown in FIG. 6 may be used. In this case, there is an advantage that it is not necessary to change the axis height of the robot 90.

  By using the above film forming apparatus, it is possible to produce and manufacture organic EL by depositing at different film forming atmospheric pressures and film forming temperatures with high efficiency, and manufacturing organic EL with high productivity can do. In this embodiment, an organic EL is taken as an example, but the same productivity improvement can be expected in the manufacture of other organic devices that dislike moisture and oxygen, such as organic TFTs and organic solar cells.

<Embodiment 2 of Film Forming Apparatus>
FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram (1) schematically showing a connection configuration of a film forming apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. The difference from FIG. 1 is that a relay chamber 30 (30-7, 30-8) is provided between the robot chamber 40 (40-4) and the film formation chamber (CVD chamber) 50 (50-9, 50-10). It is a point. The process gas used in the CVD chamber has a lot of active material gas, and if the gas is introduced into the robot chamber 40 (40-5), the robot may be damaged. In that case, the problem can be avoided by providing the relay chamber 30 between the robot chamber 40 and the film forming chamber. The structure of the relay chamber 30 may be adjusted according to the first embodiment. The substrate between the relay chamber and the film forming chamber is transported with a simpler structure than a robot, for example, with a roller or the like, so that it is easy to ensure resistance to the active material gas used in the CVD chamber.

<Embodiment 3 of Film Forming Apparatus>
FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram (2) schematically showing a connection configuration of a film forming apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention, and particularly an in-line type manufacturing apparatus suitable for manufacturing an organic EL device for illumination. It is.
This apparatus is disposed between a load chamber 20-1 for loading a substrate from the substrate cassette 10 into the apparatus, an unload chamber 20-2 for unloading, and a load chamber 20-1 and an unload chamber 20-2. It consists of a plurality of film forming chambers 50 (50-1 to 50-5) for forming a film and a plurality of relay chambers 30 (30-1 to 30-6) for connecting them to adjust the gas pressure. . Each chamber can be opened and closed by a gate valve 60. In this embodiment, the deposition chamber 50-1 is a coating chamber, the deposition chambers 50-2 to 50-3 are vapor deposition chambers, the deposition chamber 50-4 is a sputtering chamber, and the deposition chamber 50-5 is a CVD chamber. . A substrate in which a lower electrode made of a transparent electrode such as ITO or IZO has already been formed is used. In the coating chamber 50-1, an organic EL hole injection layer / hole transport layer is formed, in the deposition chambers 50-2 and 3, the white light emitting layer and the electron transport layer are formed, and in the sputtering chamber 50-4, the upper electrode is formed. In the CVD chamber 50-5, a barrier layer was formed. The load chamber 20-1, the unload chamber 20-2, and the film forming chambers 50 (50-1 to 50-5) have substrate guides 110 (110-1 to 110-7), and rollers (see FIG. (Not shown) the substrate is transferred. Each guide 110 can rotate and move the substrate up and down by a rotation mechanism, an elevator, or the like, and can form a film with the substrate in a horizontal state or a vertical state, or between various relay chamber structures similar to those in the first embodiment. Can be taken in and out.

<Embodiment of manufacturing organic EL display>
Next, specific embodiments of a method for manufacturing an organic EL display using the apparatus of FIG. 1 of the present invention will be described below. In this embodiment, the number of relay rooms is 30-1, 30-2 is 4 rooms, 30-3 is 1 room, 30-4, 30-5 and 30-6 are 2 rooms, and the average tact is 1 It was an integrated manufacturing device for minutes.

  The substrate is formed with a thin film transistor circuit (TFT circuit) for driving an active matrix, and an interlayer insulating layer (flattening film) such as photosensitive polyimide on a transparent electrode such as ITO or IZO connected to the drain of the driving TFT. , Banks) are formed. Before being put into the apparatus of FIG. 1, wet cleaning and dry cleaning are performed. Next, it is set in the substrate cassette chamber 10, transported by the load chamber 20-1, and sequentially fed into the relay chamber 30-1.

In the four relay chambers 30-1, the relay chamber is sequentially evacuated to vacuum by an exhaust pump, purged with dry nitrogen, and carried out by the robot in the robot chamber 40-1. Carrying in each relay room is about 20 seconds, and the exhaust is exhausted from atmospheric pressure to 10 ⁻³ Pa, so it takes about 1 minute and 40 seconds, and the total time is about 2 minutes. The dry nitrogen purge takes about 1 minute and 40 seconds to carry out the slow replacement, and takes about 2 minutes to add 20 seconds for carrying out, since the foreign matter is wound up and the substrate is contaminated when the gas is rapidly introduced. Therefore, it took about 4 minutes to pass through the relay chamber 30-1. In this embodiment, since there are four relay chambers, the average tact time can be sequentially transferred in about one minute.

  Subsequently, the substrate carried into the robot chamber 40-1 every other minute is sequentially carried into the film forming chambers 50-1 and 50-2 (carrying time 20 seconds), and the hole injection layer / transport layer is printed. Is applied. Various coating methods can be selected, but the slit coating method was used in this embodiment. The process time for applying and drying each substrate was about 3 minutes and 20 seconds. The substrate after coating and drying is sequentially carried out to the robot chamber 40-1 (carrying out time 20 seconds). Although the total time for loading, coating, drying, and unloading is 4 minutes, the film formation chambers 50-1 and 50-2 of this embodiment can alternately perform film formation at four locations in the chamber. The average tact can be formed in about 1 minute.

Subsequently, the substrate on which the hole injection layer / transport layer has been formed is sequentially carried into four relay chambers 30-2. In the relay chamber 30-2, the relay chamber is sequentially evacuated to vacuum by an exhaust pump, and is then carried out by the robot in the robot chamber 40-2. Since the robot chamber 40-2 is connected to the film forming chambers 50-3 and 50-4 for forming a film under high vacuum, the relay chamber 30-2 is operated at a pressure of 10 ⁻⁴ Pa from an atmosphere of dry nitrogen. It is necessary to exhaust to high vacuum. Therefore, it takes about 3 minutes to exhaust, and it takes about 4 minutes in total, 20 seconds for loading and 20 seconds for unloading. In this embodiment, there are 4 relay chambers, so the average tact time is about 1 minute, and the substrates are sequentially placed. Can be transported.

  Subsequently, the substrates carried into the robot chamber 40-2 every other minute are sequentially carried into the film forming chambers 50-3 and 50-4 (carrying time 20 seconds), and a light emitting layer is formed by vapor deposition. The In vacuum deposition, it is better to perform low-speed deposition in order to secure the film quality, so the deposition was performed for about 3 minutes and 20 seconds. In the film formation chambers 50-3 and 50-4 of this embodiment, film formation can be performed alternately at a total of four locations in the chamber, so that the average tact can be formed in about 1 minute.

  Subsequently, the substrate on which the light emitting layer has been formed is sequentially carried into the relay chamber 30-3. The robot chamber 40-3 is connected to the film formation chambers 50-3 and 50-4 for film formation under high vacuum, and has the same conditions as the robot chamber 40-2. Therefore, it is only necessary to carry in / out the substrate in the relay chamber 30-3. In the present embodiment, the relay chamber 30-3 is one chamber, but the average tact time can be sequentially transferred in about 1 minute.

Subsequently, the substrates carried into the robot chamber 40-3 every other minute are sequentially carried into the film forming chambers 50-5 and 50-6 (carrying time 20 seconds), and an electron transport layer is formed by vapor deposition. Is done.
In vacuum deposition, it is better to perform low-speed deposition in order to secure the film quality, so the deposition was performed for about 3 minutes and 20 seconds. In the film formation chambers 50-5 and 50-6 of this embodiment, film formation can be performed alternately at a total of four locations in the chamber, so that the average tact can be formed in about 1 minute.

Subsequently, the substrate on which the electron transport layer has been formed is sequentially carried into the relay chamber 30-4. Since the robot chamber 40-4 is connected to the film forming chambers 50-7 and 50-8 which are sputtering chambers for forming a film in a low vacuum argon atmosphere, argon is introduced from vacuum to about 10 ⁻² Pa. There is a need. Therefore, it takes about 1 minute and 20 seconds to introduce argon and stabilize the gas pressure, and it takes about 2 minutes in total including 20 seconds for loading and 20 seconds for unloading. However, in this embodiment, there are two relay rooms. The tact can sequentially convey the substrate in about one minute.

  Subsequently, the substrate carried into the robot chamber 40-4 every other minute is sequentially carried into the film forming chambers 50-7 and 50-8 (carrying time 20 seconds), and an upper electrode layer such as aluminum is formed by sputtering. Is deposited. Since the sputtering method tends to cause plasma damage to the organic layer, the film was formed at low power for about 3 minutes and 20 seconds. In the film formation chambers 50-7 and 50-8 of this embodiment, film formation can be performed alternately at a total of four locations in the chamber, so that the average tact can be formed in about 1 minute.

Subsequently, the substrate on which the upper electrode is formed is sequentially carried into the relay chamber 30-5. Since the robot chamber 40-5 is connected to the film forming chambers 50-9 and 50-10 which are CVD chambers for forming a film with a low vacuum CVD process gas, the vacuum is pulled to about 10 ⁻³ Pa. Later, it is necessary to replace with a CVD process gas of about 10 ⁻¹ Pa. Therefore, it takes about 1 minute and 20 seconds to evacuate argon and replace the CVD process gas, and it takes about 2 minutes including 20 seconds for loading and 20 seconds for unloading, but in this embodiment, there are two relay rooms. The average tact time is about 1 minute, and the substrate can be transferred sequentially.

  Subsequently, the substrate carried into the robot chamber 40-5 every other minute is sequentially carried into the film forming chambers 50-9 and 50-10 (carrying time 20 seconds), and a barrier layer is formed by CVD. To do. Since the CVD method tends to cause plasma damage to the organic layer, the film was formed at low power for about 3 minutes and 20 seconds. In the film formation chambers 50-9 and 50-10 of this embodiment, film formation can be performed alternately at a total of four locations in the chamber, so that the average tact can be formed in about 1 minute.

Subsequently, the substrate on which the barrier layer has been formed is sequentially carried into the relay chamber 30-6. Since the relay chamber 30-6 is connected to the unload chamber 20-2 maintained in a dry nitrogen atmosphere to prevent moisture absorption, the CVD process gas is evacuated to about 10 ⁻³ Pa, and then the atmospheric pressure is reduced. It is necessary to replace with dry nitrogen gas. Therefore, it takes about 1 minute 20 seconds to replace the CVD process gas, and it takes about 2 minutes including 20 seconds for loading and 20 seconds for unloading. In this embodiment, since there are two relay chambers, the average tact is 1 Substrate can be sequentially transferred in about minutes.

  Finally, if necessary, the substrate is sequentially carried out to a cassette maintained in a dry nitrogen atmosphere to complete the film forming process.

  By using the film forming apparatus described above, an organic EL film can be produced by producing a film at different film formation atmospheric pressures by transporting the substrate with high efficiency, and an organic EL can be produced with high productivity. . In this embodiment, an organic EL is taken as an example, but the same productivity improvement can be expected in the manufacture of other organic devices that dislike moisture and oxygen, such as organic TFTs and organic solar cells.

10 substrate cassette 20-1 load chamber 20-2 unload chamber 30 (30-1 to 30-8) relay chamber 40 (40-1 to 40-5) robot chamber 50 (50-1 to 50-10) film formation Chamber 55 Substrate delivery section 60 Gate valve 70 Gas introduction section 80 Gas exhaust section (exhaust pump)
90 Robot 100 Valve 110 (110-1 to 110-7) Guide

Claims (12)

In a film forming apparatus provided with three or more kinds of film forming chambers having different atmospheric conditions,
A relay chamber that connects an upstream film formation chamber and a downstream film formation chamber and adjusts the atmospheric conditions in the downstream process according to the atmospheric conditions of the film formation chamber;
A relay chamber having a large difference in atmospheric conditions between adjacent film forming chambers is characterized in that the atmospheric conditions of a larger number of substrates are sequentially adjusted in parallel than a relay chamber having a small difference in atmospheric conditions between adjacent film forming chambers. A film forming apparatus. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1,
The film forming apparatus, wherein the atmospheric condition includes at least one of atmospheric pressure and atmospheric temperature. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The relay chamber has a process gas introduction part and an exhaust part, and adjusts the atmospheric pressure in the room. The film forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The film formation apparatus characterized in that the time for adjusting the atmospheric condition of one substrate in the relay chamber is longer than the time required for film formation of one substrate in the film formation chamber in the upstream process. The film forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The relay chamber includes a temperature adjustment unit, and adjusts the atmospheric temperature in the room. A film forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The relay chamber temporarily stores a substrate in the room when the substrate stays in the process of transporting the substrate between the film formation chambers. The film forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
The relay chamber has a multi-stage structure divided into multiple stages in the vertical direction,
A film forming apparatus that adjusts atmospheric conditions for each of the divided relay chambers. The film forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
The relay chamber has a juxtaposed structure that is arranged side by side in the horizontal direction,
A film forming apparatus that adjusts atmospheric conditions for each of the divided relay chambers. The film forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
The relay room has a two-dimensional arrangement structure that is divided into multiple stages in the vertical direction and arranged in the horizontal direction,
A film forming apparatus that adjusts atmospheric conditions for each of the divided relay chambers. A film forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9,
A number X obtained by dividing the time (T1) required for transporting the substrate from the upstream process film forming chamber to the downstream process film forming chamber in the first relay chamber by the number of the first relay chambers (N1);
In the second relay chamber, a number Y obtained by dividing the time (T2) required for transporting the substrate from the film forming chamber in the upstream process to the film forming chamber in the downstream process by the number (N2) of the first relay chamber,
Is
| X-Y | <X, Y
A film forming apparatus characterized by the following relationship: It is the film-forming apparatus in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 10, Comprising:
The film formation chamber performs any one of vacuum deposition film formation, sputtering film formation, CVD film formation, and coating film formation. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1,
A film forming apparatus comprising a robot transfer chamber for transferring a substrate formed in the film forming chamber to the relay chamber.